In The Stars
by Eddie-Hawke
Summary: Post ME3.  Liara teaches her Little Wing a bit about her father.


"I know you're too young to understand," Liara began, the bundle of blue wrapped tightly in her arms, "But there are some things about this world you need to know. Things I need to know that I've told you since birth." She smiles to her child; still too young to talk. Her eyes opened with an inquisitive stare.

"Don't look at me like that," Liara joked, but in a pause her voice dropped, "Your father used to give me that look, too." Her words were not those of sorrow, but of content; content to see the eyes of her love in their offspring. Liara's fingers move to dance along her daughter's cheeks and nose, bringing laughter from her child; the sound painting hues of warm effervescent notes throughout the air.

Before Liara was a small black box. Her project. "It doesn't work the way it used to, but…" She began, holding the child in her arm as she reached across to pull the object closer. Her fingers moved along the small, holographic panel, and a sharp light appeared from the top, shooting up into the room. The stars had faded; dimmed without losing all their light. It encompassed such a small section of the air now. "It used to dress the room as though the walls were made of glass," She objected, feeling the need to justify her creation. "As if you were completely entwined with the galaxy wherever you looked."

Then the image appears; the holographic picture, encased within the dark capsule. Liara stops, her words fragmented as she stared at the illusion of her love. Her hand moved towards it, touching the image before filtering through the pixels, causing it to glitch slightly. And she pulled back, almost in anguish. Her head dropped down, eyes alight to those of her child.

"This. This is…" She began, and stopped. Her voice trails off into the stars. Her mind falls into memories.

"_This is it. Isn't it._" Liara says, her voice painfully hollow with the inevitability of loss. She does not look at her love, for fear that those moments may be the last.

"_Yeah. This is it._" Shepard replies, with such force that pulls Liara's eyes from her distant stare to connect them once more.

Liara pulled herself from those thoughts, then. The bitter sweet memory was not where she wanted to place herself. To think back was to trap herself within an inescapable prison. "This is your father." She says, a vacant smile as she looked down once more to her child. "Shepard. **The** Shepard." She chuckled at her own words; such fandom truly would have existed in the world she knew. "You have the best attributes a child could have. The best father." She reassured, though the words were more for herself than her Little Wing. Shepard was so much more than perfect attributes and genes. There, those curious eyes peered up at her, striking through her demeanour as if to ask for more, though she knew this wouldn't be true. Still, it was important to indulge in her own story telling; delve through the memories without folding into the waves.

"I meant… Your father is one of the bravest people in the galaxy. One of the strongest. I've never met anyone like her. Neither will you." What was it that the crew used to say about her, "They just don't make them like her any more." Liara states this as a fact, and there is a nostalgic movement within the air as she draws back to her point.

"I know she wants to meet you. She's probably… No. She is sorry she isn't here." Liara, once more, chose to reassure and cover herself. The context of her words; wants, not wanted. "She loves you very much. You and I. She loves our family." Her own words caused tears to form beneath her eyes. Rather than allowing them to fall, the Asari turned her gaze above to prevent their departure. "One day, my sweet, she'll be here. Or we'll be there. It's written in the stars." Suddenly, Liara fell back into reality, the child in her arms fussing; tiny whines emit from her cobalt lips.

"I'm sorry." Liara's gentle voice called to soothe her worries as she brought the child to her chest in a small embrace, "But please be patient. I'll wait with you." She smiled, lips to her daughters ear, "I have some experience in waiting for Shepard. She is well worth it."


End file.
